Air India Flight Cancellations Cause Increase in Air Fares

Air India has been cancelling many flights over the past week, many of them international flights, due to an ongoing pilot strike that has yet to be resolved. The result of these cancellations is an increase in air fares by as much as 20% in the international sector. The report by Mihir Mishra and Aneesh Phadnis in Business Standard also indicates that passengers are having a hard time getting a seat. Siddharth Mehta, heads of the air product vertical at online travel portal MakeMyTrip.com, said that the airlines are seeing an increase in revenues due to a mismatch in supply and demand.

Air India is the biggest Indian carrier in the international sector and it holds 20% of the market. Almost 50% of the total international seats offered by Indian carriers are offered by Air India. Overall, Indian carriers offer 200,000 seats per week for international travel, yet international carriers offer 340,000. this imbalance could grow once Air India cuts back it flights to Europe and the US from 34 a day to only 14 a day.

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